Matchbox Brothers, Nicholas Vaughan

Matchbox Brothers is a historical fiction novelette bridging post war Poland and the U.K about two brothers and their efforts to understand each other’s very different backgrounds and stance.

This is a tale of two brothers separated by the second world war. One is an artist living in Poland and the other an architect who lives in the U.K. Bronislaw who lives in Warsaw makes art from a converted attic room. He is always working in fear that the authorities would come banging on his door. ‘Spot checks’ would be made on artists’ studios to make sure that they were not producing anything ‘unorthodox’. Only images of religious icons, town/landscapes and folk art were allowed. His brother in London who only knows him as an artist in this capacity and admires him is shocked to find out that he is an anti-communist and has a revolutionary bent. Through his art he hopes to make people see truths about their own corrupt system. He conceals anti-government messages in his work designed to sway public feeling. He plans to broadcast this message high across the skies for all to see, but not before he has taken a cross country trip with his new companion to an old matchbox factory deep in the snowy Polish woods.

The text and illustrations are inspired by an interest in cultural heritage, personal memory and my grandfather’s fascination for Phillumeny.

Price £10

About the Artist

Nicholas Vaughan was born in Northampton, England. After receiving his degree in

Sculpture from Wolverhampton University he moved to London where he studied for an MA at Chelsea College of Art and Design.

His work has been shown extensively in group shows throughout Europe, including The Corner House Gallery in Manchester and Imperial College in London. He has exhibited sculpture, watercolours, illustration and writing.

More recently he has spent a year living in Poland, where he began to produce a series ofdrawings that were exploring his Polish heritage. Back in the UK this interest has continued and culminated in a solo show at The POSK gallery and a joint exhibition at The Hundred Years Gallery where an installation was made that explored the fictional account of his grandfather as told in ‘Matchbox Brothers’.